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The Call.

Kydd, Sal Taylor.

Rockport, ME: Stagenhoe Press, 2017. Artist's book, one of 10 copies, deluxe issue, with an original cyanotype printed on vellum laid into the clamshell box, from a total issue of 15 (#10-15 without cyanotype and in slipcase) all on BFK Rives, each signed and numbered by the artist in the colophon. Page size: 8 x 8 inches; 8 leaves, 16pp; including colophon. Bound by the artist: drum-leaf binding of blue-grey cloth over boards with tan cloth spine, duotone print (artist self-portrait used throughout book) edged in tan inset into front panel, housed in blue-gray cloth over boards custom-made clamshell box by Richard Reitz Smith, lined with blue cloth printed with darker blue small images of telephone, spine with title and artist printed on spine, small phone stamped on front panel. Printed letterpress by the artist in Baskerville Old Face and Century Schoolbook at Maine Media College in a variety of point sizes in blue, each page with a series of 4-3-2-1 dots printed in tan in lower right corner of each recto. The artist notes that her poem is "broken up throughout the book and the stilted structure of the verse speaks to the awkward nature of the phone call it describes." The words and tone of the poem are unsparing and relate the desire to be known to those closest to us and the ensuing sadness when we realize this is not possible. The author / artist takes the reader / viewer on an intimate journey, highlighted by the use of her self-portrait printed as a duotone on vellum between the last two lines of the poem, followed by the same image printed in pale grey with the last line of the poem below the artist's uncompromising gaze. The text is quick and to the point and relevant to us all. The elegant cyanotype printed on vellum laid into the back of the slipcase might have seemed ephemeral had the image not been so strong. Instead, it is exactly the opposite. The artist's eyes force viewing and consideration of her words. Beautifully accomplished, this is a wonderful example of an idea made concrete by one artist's talent. b. Item #11344